


How I write Blake (meta)

by aralias



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 03:12:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17614331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aralias/pseuds/aralias
Summary: I’m not saying this is how you should write Blake, dear readers - but it is how I do it.





	How I write Blake (meta)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for issue 92 of 'The Way Forward'. Posted for Nataša.

About a week ago someone posted a meme on Tumblr which described Blake as having no sense of humour. I think that meme (how incredibly wrong that view of Blake was) may have been what made me think I should write about writing Blake. This trib is the result.

I’m not saying this is how _you_ should write Blake, dear readers (unless you’re that person who said that he had no sense of humour. If that was you, I’m afraid you do need some schooling). But it is how I do it.

It might be useful, or it might be interesting because you think I’m so incredibly wrong. If you write Blake fanfiction, I’d be interested in how your list might differ from mine. I look forward to reading your responses in future issues!

Here we go.

  1. **Audio indoctrination**



I spend a lot of time listening to Blake (or any character, depending on what I’m writing) speak before I try and write. I spend 5-10 minutes listening to them again almost every time I open the document. _Big Finish_ is very useful for this (even if I don’t think they do a very good job getting any of the characters consistent) because I’m not distracted by the visuals, and obviously there are a few _Liberator Chronicles_ that Blake narrates (plus – I love [‘False Positive’](https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/the-liberator-chronicles-volume-2-736). If you haven’t heard you, you should.)

For B7 I also re-watch, obviously. I tend to watch series 2, and sometimes only the most Blake-heavy and important scenes in terms of the way I characterise Blake. For me, these are ‘The others have decided to come with me’ (‘Pressure Point’); ‘Think, Gan, think what they control’ (‘Shadow’) and of course ‘I have always trusted you’ (‘Star One’).

If I spend too long listening to something I end up with the voices stuck in my head, which helps me work out whether it’s plausible for that character to have said that thing. Some scenes write themselves.

 

  1. **Read the transcripts**



Thanks to the internet they’re all online. I use[Hermit](http://www.hermit.org/b7/Episodes/scripts/index.html) (of course). It’s a bit like the listening in that you can see how the sentences are constructed.

Here’s one of the scenes I mentioned earlier:

BLAKE: Think, Gan, think what they've got: men, material, information. Think what we could do with a fraction of the resources they control.  
GAN: No, YOU think, Blake. Think what it is they control. Everything dirty, degrading, and cruel on just about every colonized world.  
BLAKE: Earth is all I'm interested in.

I’m sure I’ve analysed this scene before somewhere, but I can’t find it. The most obvious thing about it is the political rhetoric of repetition: _“ **Think** , Gan, **think** what they've got: men, material, information. **Think** what we could do with a fraction of the resources they control.” _This is a classic Blake device that you see everywhere in the scripts and obviously Gareth emphasises that repeated word as he knows it’s a political speech. Gan turns it back on him (you go, Gan!) and Blake shuts him down rather than continue to escalate. Cool!

I don’t like copying whole sentences or phrases, but I do steal sentence construction and change the words around.

 

  1. **Use recognisable Blake dialogue**



I started talking about dialogue while talking about transcripts and repetition, but here are a few more things I actively use.

 **Use of names.** Everyone in Blake’s 7 does it on screen, constantly referring to each other by name. People say it’s bad writing to do this, but if you’re copying the television show it would be bad writing _not_ to do it. It helps with the rhythm. It’s probably also a good thing for Blake to use specifically as using someone’s name pins them to a task he wants them to do, or brings them actively into a conversation he wants them to be a part of. He’s directing the conversation.

 **Silence.** One of my other favourite scenes in ‘Shadow’ is the scene where Blake says nothing while Avon and Jenna speak to Largo. I don’t think I’ve ever written him being completely silent, but sometimes I’ll write something like _‘”Mm”, Blake said’_ to give him time to think about what an answer is. Often it’s worth Blake either leading the scene (see above) or waiting for an opportune moment to speak, I guess.

 **Yes/no/all right/well.** We all know Avon’s famous ‘Well now’, but Blake uses ‘well’ at the beginning of plenty of his sentences too. Something I do (I’m not sure how based in fact it is) is often tag sentences with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ (or ‘All right’) at the beginning, so he agrees/disagrees/dismisses someone and then moves onto his own thought.

 **Italics.** I should probably use italics less liberally than I do, but this is about what I do. And I do use a lot of italics when writing Blake.

 **Jokes.** Blake is funny and often amused by himself. I always try and write him some jokes, however naff. I was going to quote ‘Star One’, but I thought I’d go for this one from ‘Shadow’ again because Blake thinks ruining someone’s day is funny, and I like that.

VILA: But that's Space City, one of my all-time great ambitions.  
BLAKE: You'd probably be disappointed.  
VILA: I'll take that chance.  
BLAKE: I would never forgive myself, Vila.

 

  1. **Use recognisable Blake movement**



I’m terrible at writing description – everything I write is dialogue heavy. One of the best writing discoveries of the past few years for me was that first person wasn’t terrifying (or not _just_ terrifying), it also gives you an excuse to write dialogue _for literally everything._

But anyway, sometimes you do need to say where someone is in a room. And sometimes I write about Blake doing some physical stuff that I know Gareth does on screen.

These include:

  * finger biting (Super obvious. Super cliched amongst Blake fans, but not without some significant basis in fact) or rubbing his lip with his hand
  * ‘Blake huffed a laugh’ (this is the best way I can describe the short chuckle)
  * leaning his head to the side, sort of a half-shrug. He uses it in the same way a normal man might use a shrug.
  * Hands spread over the back of the flight deck couch – either while he’s sitting on it, or when he’s leaning over it.



 

  1. **Give him the right story**



I think this is one of the most important points, which is why I left it to the end. But I’ve also already said it in my [‘Vampire Diaries’ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13726509)essay in issue 89.

Blake isn’t the kind of character who could easily play a love interest in a teen romance about vampires. … Blake needs a plot and an external (i.e. not-personal) motivation, if he’s going to make any sense as a character. He needs something to fight against and for, and even if that plot is relatively small it probably needs to exist outside of the romance arc.

It doesn’t matter what _your_ story is about. All of my stories are about relationships ([one of them is even about Carnell adopting a child](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1868484)). But for Blake the main story is political (in the Carnell story, for example, Blake doesn’t care about the child. He’s worried the Federation have found his base and then he’s evacuating). So I always, always try and write him something to be obsessing about.

The political stuff Blake cares about isn’t the thing I’m most interested in, though. At all. So while I’ve written a few stories with actual plots that I made up, I mostly use the ones that I’m given in canon. I’ve written about forty stories about Blake and four of them (ten per cent!) are set in and around ‘Voice from the Past’.

This isn’t because it’s a great episode (it’s a _terrible_ episode) or even because it has lots of great ideas, because it doesn’t. However – it gives the crew a destination they’re going to (Del 10) that we know doesn’t help them in any way, and a mission that they’re on ‘Find Docholli’ (which we know they won’t achieve until later). It’s close to ‘Star One’, but not so close that whatever I’m writing about is overshadowed by actually being there.

 

  1. **Write the right character**



If you give Blake the right story, you’re already half-way to writing what I think of as a good Blake, because you know that his number one priority is freedom for everyone. But people have still written plenty of B7 fics about Blake that don’t feature Blake as I understand him.

The great Sue Clerc points out in [_Recurring Themes in Blake's 7 Fan Fiction_ ](http://web.archive.org/web/20010210161228/http://members.nbci.com/sjcinct/themes.html)that:

"Blake is [often presented as]: 1) a sentimental sap; 2) too dumb to find his ass with both hands; (1 and 2 are sometimes combined) or 3) so devious, scheming, hypocritical, and manipulative that Machiavelli was apparently writing about him in "The Prince." Blake is also obsessed with Star One to a much greater extent than in the series. IMO, he isn't any of these."

This is a good list to bear in mind when thinking about Blake. (Although the comment about Star One just goes to show that even though Sue is right a lot of the time, she isn’t right about everything). Write him as manipulative but only to a point, and sentimental – but only to a point.

Dumb is just straight forwardly wrong, although gallingly Big Finish are guilty of this as well. Personally, I write Blake as smarter than anyone else on the ship, even Avon. He understands things quickly (situations or new concepts) and responds quickly. He also knows he doesn’t have to be a specialist in computers or flying or thievery because he has those skills in his crew. I tend to write him as an engineer (even though _Reoccurring Themes_ points out that this is never confirmed outside of the novelisation. Which was a massive shock to me when I read it.)

I also think it’s worth noting that he’s lucky. He’s clever, but he’s also lucky. (Avon, meanwhile, is clever, but _un_ lucky.) It’s not a character trait, but it’s worth noting when thinking about when writing for him before series 3.

I picked out three scenes earlier as being key to the way that I think about Blake as a character. To be completely honest, it’s not a definitive list/I made it up as I was writing this, but they hit most of the other major character points for me.

Clever, lucky and dedicated, we already have. To that I would add his frequent wry amusement, his frustration and anger (often most with himself), belief in himself and his ideas, and his genuine loyalty to and interest in the people he calls his crew. (While Blake is _not_ a sentimental sap, he has to be held back from rescuing Cally in ‘Seek, Locate, Destroy’, he is horribly guilty about Gan’s death, and of course – he’s trusted Avon from the very beginning. Give or take).

A Blake who is not at least most of these is going to be difficult to recognise as Blake, whether he bites his fingers or not. At least, that’s what I think.

How about you?


End file.
